Children, parents, and business and community leaders will join together to celebrate after-school programing at an upcoming rally.

The Newton County School System will host the Lights On Afterschool rally at 5 p.m. Oct. 17 at Newton High School.

The gathering will be one of more than 9,000 such events across the nation emphasizing the importance of "keeping the lights on and the doors open" for after-school programs. 

Deena Sams, Newton County Schools’ district coordinator of afterschool programs, said the event will be "a powerful reminder that after-school programs keep children safe, inspire them to learn, and relieve working parents of worries about how their children spend their afternoons.’’

Like many other after-school programs around the nation, NCSS’s after school programs are supported by funding from the federal 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative.  Newton County Schools’ After School Academic Program serves more than 1,300 children, providing academic instruction, homework assistance, science, mentoring, tutoring, test prep, credit recovery, sports clubs, recreation and fitness, dance, piano and dozens of other subjects.